Nscale raises $2B at $14.6B valuation with Nvidia backing
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Nscale raised $2 billion in a Series C at a $14.6 billion valuation — more than double the confidential valuation it achieved in its prior Series B — with the round led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries and featuring Nvidia as a participant.
- Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, and Point72 also joined the round, which is inclusive of a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE round Nscale closed in October.
- Nscale named three new board directors: former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, former UK deputy prime minister and Meta executive Nick Clegg, and former Yahoo President Susan Decker.
- Nscale will use the fresh capital to accelerate vertically integrated AI infrastructure — spanning GPU compute, networking, data services, and orchestration software — across Europe, North America, and Asia, the company said.
- Nscale has inked major deals with Big Tech, including a $14 billion expanded partnership with Microsoft announced in October and a summer partnership with OpenAI to launch a Stargate-branded AI data center in Norway.
- Nscale, founded in 2024 and headquartered in the UK, operates data centers in the U.K., U.S., Norway, Portugal, and Iceland, and has confirmed it is eyeing an initial public offering.
- Josh Payne, Nscale's CEO and founder, called the current moment "the largest infrastructure buildout in human history" and described the company as building "the engine of superintelligence."
Why it matters: A startup founded in 2024 has now more than doubled its valuation in months while securing Big Tech partnerships worth billions, showing the breakneck pace of capital flooding into AI infrastructure. Nscale's board additions — including Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg — and its confirmed IPO ambitions signal it's positioning for a public exit, while investors like Nvidia deepen their grip on the AI compute supply chain.
